‘I had no idea’: Ron Perlman shares what he was really paid for Fallout, and it’s way less than you think

Actor Ron Perlman recently talked about his work as the narrator of the Fallout games. He shared that he was paid only $40 and given a sandwich for voicing the first game back in the 1990s, and he had “no idea” how big the game had become. 

Perlman, who is known for playing Hellboy and having a very unique voice, talked about this on The Joe Vulpis Podcast. He’s the voice behind the famous line that plays in every main Fallout game about how war never changes. When he was asked to do the voice work for the 1997 game, he didn’t know it would turn into something so big.

According to Dexerto, he remembered the deal clearly and said, “They invited me to do the very first Fallout and gave me $40 and a sandwich.” He wasn’t thinking about how important this role would become. He just wanted to get paid and eat lunch. It’s hard to believe that the voice of the Fallout series was bought for such a small price.

Perlman didn’t know Fallout was a hit until he got called for the sequel

The first Fallout game sold about 100,000 copies by the end of 1997, but Perlman had no idea it did well. He didn’t find out the game was successful until a year and a half later. That’s when he got a call asking him to come back for Fallout 2, and he was confused about why they needed another game.

Perlman talked about that phone call and said when he asked why they were making a second game, they told him, “Because the first one went through the f—ing roof.” He was surprised and just said, “Really? Cool.” After that, he did the second game, then the third, fourth, and more. Now Fallout is a huge brand, with titles like Fallout 4’s open-world wasteland adventure becoming fan favorites.

It’s funny that one of the most famous voices in gaming didn’t see any of this coming. Before doing Fallout, Perlman was working on the TV show Beauty and the Beast. He wouldn’t star in Hellboy until seven years after the first Fallout game came out.

Even though his voice is a big part of the Fallout series, Perlman has never played any of the games. He said he’s not a gamer and doesn’t understand the gaming world at all. He doesn’t even know which games go on which gaming systems. This is interesting because he’s also done voice work for big games like Call of Duty, Halo 2, and Halo 3.

Perlman summed up his whole experience by saying, “I did a couple of lines, got my $40 and my sandwich, and went home.” That’s a simple way to describe a performance that shaped the entire Fallout series. 

A small job he took because he was hungry became one of the most important voice roles in gaming. Fans hope he’ll come back for more games, especially with talk about a Fallout: New Vegas remake and Fallout 5 possibly coming in the future. The series has expanded with various DLC packs, including Nuka-World’s theme park expansion.